Any Digital Impressions of the Caiman yet?

[leo]

I heard a lot of manufacturers of cd- and blueray-players and AV-receivers are going to use these dac´s next year. Is it not too complicated for them then?

The Sabres are very high performing chips , its far more complicated and very expensive to get the best out of them, have a look on the diy section, you can see the work involved I've been doing to improve a pair of diy versions, first one using ES9008 and later on in the thread the newer ES9018 which so far performs excellently BUT even as a diy project would cost many times more than the Caiman dac , its not even cased up yet!

The much cheaper Sabre chips like ES9006 will be mainly used in DVD players etc (the current Peachtree dac uses it too) , only ready built commercial unit I know of to be using the highest spec ES9018 is the Moon 750D

[roscoeiii]

Leo,

Since you seem to have a great deal of experience with Sabre based DACs and the Caiman, can you give us an idea of how the differences in the sound in these chips that you've observed. Of course op-amps, circuit architecture, etc are going to play a significant role here as well but we'll have to just accept that as inevitable. Nevertheless, I'd be interested in what you see as the strengths and weaknesses of each DAC chip.

[technobear]

Heads up!

There's a chap over on the Wigwam selling a brand new Caiman currently at £199 delivered (in the UK).

Grab it quick!

[StanleyB]

Well I can't help it that the Caiman gives the impression that if £200 DACs are that good, more expensive ones are even better. It does imprint in my mind however that there is a market for a £1000 DAC from me. I just need to find an expensive looking case and some expensive caps.

[chrism]

Well I can't help it that the Caiman gives the impression that if £200 DACs are that good, more expensive ones are even better. It does imprint in my mind however that there is a market for a £1000 DAC from me. I just need to find an expensive looking case and some expensive caps.

a special badge and a few customers with plenty of dosh!

Regards

[Labarum]

All you need, Stan, is a small back street workshop that can mill you a few smart aluminium cases out of solid blocks. Well, if Apple can do it . . .

[shuggz]

Heads up!

There's a chap over on the Wigwam selling a brand new Caiman currently at £199 delivered (in the UK).

Grab it quick!

had to go, I guess

[oceanobsession]

I have been looking for a dac myself as my only source from my pc to go
with these,

1. avi 2000 series pre
2. avi 2000 series monoblocks
3. shahinian arcs 1993
4. sb3

After reading many forums ive come to the conclusion that there seems to be
many contenders but these seem to be the favorite for most
1. benchmark dac 1
2. lavry da 10
3. beresford
4. MF V-Dac
5. twisted pair audio buffalo dac
6. satch dac
7. promitheus dac
8. ciaudio VDA-2 DAC
9. Apogee Mini DAC
10 Nos dac ebay

Any recomendations on the list cheers ocean

[Themis]

There are surely other dacs around... anyway.

If I had to give an adjective to some, it would be, subjectively :
1. Stiff
2. Neutral - smooth
3. [Caiman] Honest - smooth
4. Smooth
5. -
6. -
7. -
8. -
9. Neutral - smooth
10. (don't like at all)

Honest>smooth>neutral>stiff>harch my favorites being from honest to smooth

You can very well include used NorthStar192 and PSAudio dacs (both honest-smooth)

PS: this is the Caiman thread, so, I don't want to get into details about other dacs in it.

[oceanobsession]

There are surely other dacs around... anyway.

If I had to give an adjective to some, it would be, subjectively :
1. Stiff
2. Neutral - smooth
3. Honest - smooth
4. Smooth
5. -
6. -
7. -
8. -
9. Neutral - smooth
10. (don't like at all)

Honest>smooth>neutral>stiff>harch my favorites being from honest to smooth

You can very well include used NorthStar192 and PSAudio dacs (both honest-smooth)

cheers for all youre help im thinking caiman cause you can play with the opamps, where would you put the sb3 with analoug out to the pre using the
built in dac cheers ocean